Islamic
State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) is using Iraqi city residents as human
shields to slow down the Iraqi army, which has nearly encircled the
city. It is killing those desperate enough to try and flee.

The
UN estimated that there had been about 50,000 civilians in Fallujah –
strategically valuable due to its proximity to the capital Baghdad –
prior to the government counter-offensive, which began on May 22.
Refugee NGOs say that only 18,000 of those have reached their camps
in the past fortnight.

Those
left inside, have been building rafts to try and escape the city via
the 250m-wide river Euphrates, with scant possessions, or nothing at
all.

“They
are using empty refrigerators, wooden cupboards and kerosene barrels
as makeshift boats to cross the river. It’s totally unsafe and this
is why innocent people are drowning,” provincial council head
Shakir al-Essawi told Reuters, approximating that about 1,000
families have attempted to use the water route.

“When
people tried to cross the Euphrates, Islamic State militants shot and
killed them,” Iraqi MP Khalid al-Alwani testified to the Iraqi
parliament on Monday.

Iraqi
elite counterterrorism force chief Major Ali Hanoon told AP that at
least “dozens” of civilians, and likely a much higher number, had
been shot in the back as they attempted to flee.

"They
know that if they trap the civilians, it will slow our progress,"
Hanoon said.

Citizens’
fears may be augmented by reports of previous recaptures of ISIS
strongholds, particularly by militias from a different sect, in which
retribution has been delivered to locals, though this time the Iraqi
authorities have purposefully elected to use regular forces for the
final assault.

Still,
social media images have emerged of Shia militias torturing Sunni
escapees, earning a rebuke from the UN.

Al-Alwani,
a Sunni, has lobbied the Shia-dominated government to provide cover
and police boats for the refugees, but the chief of the government
onslaught Ismail al-Mahalawi, said on state television on Monday that
helping them remains a “difficult operation.”

"Our
biggest fears are now tragically confirmed,” surmised Nasr Muflahi,
of the Norwegian Refugee Council, the organization that has been
receiving the fugitives.

Fallujah
has been under ISIS control since January 2014, but last month the
Pentagon declared that the radical Islamist group has lost 45 percent
of its maximal gains in Iraq, and a fifth of its Syrian territory. An
attack on the city of Mosul is likely to be the next biggest target
for the government, and its international coalition backers.

"The
assault on Fallujah will soon be over, and Iraq will be free of
terrorists by the end of the year," promised Prime Minister
Haider al-Abadi on Monday.

Russia
to give strongest air support to Syrian army in Aleppo area –
Lavrov

“We
will decide on how our air forces should act, depending on the
situation,” Lavrov
said in a media conference following talks with his Finnish
counterpart. “This
will not be a surprise for the Americans.”

Al-Nusra
Front, an al Qaeda offshoot in Syria, went on an offensive in Aleppo
last week. The Russian military blamed the US for stalling Russian
airstrikes against the terrorist group’s forces in the region. The
US said moderate rebel groups mingled with the terrorists in some
areas and that Russia should use caution and not strike those groups
by mistake.

“We
believe there was plenty of time for the ‘normal’ opposition to
leave Nusra Front territories since February. Those who didn’t part
ways with the terrorists have only themselves to
blame,” Lavrov dded.

Moscow
hopes that the US is not trying to do anything behind Russia’s
back, Lavrov said.

“We
expect our partners to cooperate with us honestly and not try to use
our regular contacts to secretly go with a Plan B, C or D behind our
back.”

Russia
and the US jointly support a peace process in Syria that aims to
produce a transition government approved by both the so-called
“moderate rebel” groups and the government of Syria. A truce
between all sides who claim to share this goal was established in
February, reducing the violence in the war-torn country.

Terrorist
groups Al Nusra Front and Islamic State are not part of the process
and do not uphold the ceasefire. Russia accuses certain other
Islamist militant groups operating in Syria of not being honest and
siding with the terrorists, but the US opposes designating those
groups as legitimate targets for military attacks, arguing that they
have the backing of Saudi Arabia and a place at the negotiating table
in Geneva.

The
situation is further complicated by the sheer number of armed groups
in Syria and the complexity of their allegiances and rivalries, which
makes distinguishing terrorists and "moderate rebels" often
problematic.

The
West’s “moderate” opposition is shelling residential areas in
Aleppo, Syria alongside Al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, a letter
sent to the UN by Damascus says. Moscow reports 2,000 terrorists and
“moderates” are now attacking the city’s Kurdish district.

In
the letter, which was addressed to the UN Secretary General and the
Head of the UN Security Council, the Syrian Foreign and
Expatriates Ministry complained about ongoing attacks on safe
neighborhoods in Aleppo, accusing some“moderate” opposition
groups of cooperating and coordinating with Al-Nusra and its
affiliates in conducting them, state-run SANA news agency reports,
citing the document....[ ]